Ferrari to start 2005 with old car

Ferrari will start the new season with the 'old' car and the new chassis is
expected to make its first appearance a few races later. The team will use a
development of the F2004 initially in 2005, the car that won 15 races this
year, incorporating...

Ferrari will start the new season with the 'old' car and the new chassis is
expected to make its first appearance a few races later. The team will use a
development of the F2004 initially in 2005, the car that won 15 races this
year, incorporating the aerodynamics of the new car.

"The aim is to have the new car on track at the end of February," designer
Rory Byrne told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We could bring it out from the first
race of 2005 but we are not in such a hurry because we want to go deeper
into research and design so that it is almost perfect when it does make its
debut. We expect this to be between the third and fifth races."

Next year's calendar, which has not yet been finalised, has Bahrain as the
third Grand Prix and France and San Marino provisionally the fourth and
fifth races. It might seem difficult for Ferrari to improve upon the
dominant F2004 but Byrne believes it can be done.

"The new car will represent another big step forward," he said. "But its
success will depend on our rivals. It will be different to the F2004, but in
an evolutionary sense. Some areas will be very different -- the engine will
be new, not interchangeable with the current one, as will the gearbox."

Ferrari was testing at Barcelona last week, with new signing Marc Gené on
duty along with Luca Badoer. Michael Schumacher is not expected to be back
at work with Ferrari until January, but he will compete in the Race of Champions
this coming weekend at the Stade de France.